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Friday, February 2, 2018

I ran a strong 6 mile Fartlek today. A Fartlek is a run that has some speed burst built in. It can be anything, sprint to a lamp post down the block, fast for a minute, or a specified distance. The principle is basic, sprint a few times inside of a normal run. This is meant to give you some speed work during a run and build up your overall speed. Also, it's good for practicing pace adjustment during races, and running fast on tired legs.

I, as mentioned above, went for the distance specific bursts. I finished each mile of a 6 miler with a 200 meter sprint. I liked knowing that when my watch went off for my mile split, that my burst was over.Overall, my 6 miler took 43:15, which means my overall pace was about 7:12/mile. I'm super happy about that and my mile 5 was about 6:19. Running fast is coming back!I know what sucked today on my run. The F-ing temps!! It was 25 degrees out when I looked just before I left. However, the "feels like," temp was friggin' 11 degrees! Guess what? It felt like 11 degrees too. I am not happy about running in the cold, but I am dealing with it. I need some shorts weather.

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Well, just like that, I am back at the start. January is over, my 140+ miles mean nothing now, and I have to get February going. I ran twice today, getting in 8 miles total. The first run of the day was a 4 mile progression run. I started around 9 minutes for the first mile, then 8:05ish, 7:45ish, and finished big with a 7:05 last mile. My second run of the day, I ran a simple recovery run of 4 miles at around 8:30ish pace. I just wanted to stay loose and get some more miles in without pressing too hard. Tomorrow, I plan to run a 6 mile Fartlek run with 200 meter pickups.

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

F, it's cold outside. I want above 50 temps, now. I finished the month with a decent 5 mile tempo run today. It took me 33:58, which is a pace of about 6:47 mile. It was just ok. I was cold, it's the final day of my biggest month ever, and frankly, I wasn't into it. I was into the run, not running a tempo in the windy cold today. I need some balmy weather. I need to sweat in a Tee and shorts, not tights, shorts, base top, mid top, fleece jacket, gloves, and hat. Jesus, getting dressed to run is an F-ing process.February, I will get above 120 miles for the month as well. It's a short month, and I have a week vacation, so I need to commit my miles when I can. Also, February is losing weight month. I want to drop between 10-20 lbs, and get lighter and faster. Bye Bye sugar!

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

As promised, I ran alternating repeats of 200 meters and 400 meters today. I did 5 of each and rested only 60-70 seconds in between. The effort was hard and the speed is coming. I was able to run the 200's around 37 seconds and the 400's were around 80 seconds, give or take. I can't complain with these splits, especially as I am about 15-20 lbs. heavier than I hope to be in March-June.This also marked ,y 3rd run total in my new shoes from Hoka One One and I continue to be impressed. The light cushiony feeling that doesn't sacrifice the feel of a running shoe is great. The Hupana shoes are a pleasure to run in. I actually miss them when I am in my everyday sneakers now.As I stated above, the biggest takeaway is that even though they feel soft and light, they still are responsive under speed and workout paces. There is a good fit to them and I think they respond well to any type of run, whether it's slower recovery runs, tempos, or fast repeats/Fartleks.Tomorrow, I will end the month of January. I have already blown away my top monthly mileage total by almost 40 miles, and I have a 10 miler planned to end the month. I feel healthy and ready to lay the smackdown to February. I cannot wait to race and see what I am accomplishing in training.

Monday, January 29, 2018

I am at 127 miles for the month and I am a little tired. Today, after 3 days off from running, I just didn't feel up to running far or fast. Since it has been a long month and a long couple days with a sick 2 year old at home, I decided a slow 6 miler would do. I can make up for it with the speed work I am going to do tomorrow. I am thinking a work out of alternating 200 and 400 meter repeats with only 60 second rests in between. Tomorrow should be quite painful. I cannot wait. I am getting a solid base of miles right now and the new piece I need to consistently add, is the speed stuff.I was listening to a good podcast on Athlete on Fire today. It was with the founder of the website Run Repeat. Run Repeat is a website with thousands of shoe reviews by the people that matter, runners. It isn't brand specific and the site doesn't sell out to a specific brand or marketing campaign.The founder, Jens, talked a lot about quality training and intervals, hard workouts, etc. I was happily surprised that the website, Run Repeat, barely came up. I do think it is a cool site and I may test it out next time I need some sneakers.